Golden Wings
by bullwolf238
Summary: He had been afraid to tell her, all of them, what he really was. But now he has to...Rated M for language.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Square Enix does.

Cid/Shera maybe more later on.

Summary: He had been afraid to tell her, all of them, what he really was. But now he has to.

Rated M for language.

Golden Wings

Prologue

The blond man groaned as he got up, last night's booze bash with Shera had left him with one hell of a hangover. Cid's mind was not properly in gear as he looked over to see Shera fast asleep beside him.

"Planet, that woman is beautiful," he thought to himself.

He reached over to the table beside him, feeling around for his cigarettes. He lit one up and turned once more to the woman beside him. The small light from the cigarette casting a slight golden glow over Shera's sleeping form. As the smoke billowed softly out of the end of his cigarette he thought to himself "How the hell am I gonna tell her?"

Cid himself had been cursed since the very day he was born. Not both of his parents were human. His mother was human, a gentle soul, but his father had been a savage looking creature. Thick, golden fur covered his massive body, claws instead of fingers, a long snout housing sharp, white teeth, and a gleam in his eyes that tore into your very soul.

Cid had been left somewhere in between, being able to change between both of his forms.

One form being: human. The other: very, not human.

He hated it, never really knowing whether he was human or not. So he had chosen to remain in his human form unless there was an absolute need for the other side to be shown.

Never had he told a soul about his 'heritage' and had planned on keeping it that way.

Until now...


	2. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Square Enix does.

Cid/Shera maybe more later on.

Summary: He had been afraid to tell her, all of them, what he really was. But now he has to...

Rated M for language

**Golden Wings**

Chapter 1

"Stupid, fucking, piece of Shit!"

It was no surprise, at that volume, that Shera could hear Cid's cursing from their kitchen even though he was in the hanger out the back of their house. She knew he had done something wrong but refused to admit it. Instead he would blame the object in question for his failure. This time it was the engine of the Tiny Bronco.

"Please don't break it too much, Captain," Shera called out to him.

"Stop calling me captain, Shera, we're married damnit, it's Cid!" the pissed off voice yelled back at her. After a few seconds the voice yelled again. "I'M NOT FUCKING BREAKING ANYTHING!"

"Whatever you say Cid," She said to herself. She laughed to herself and carried on with the dishes, humming as she went.

The Bronco's new engine was really getting to him. It refused to move off the bench and back into the small plane. With all the new parts he'd just finished putting in it, it seemed to weigh a couple of tonnes. A vast amount more than he could ever carry...

While he was in his human form anyway...

He thought about it for a while.

"If I do this, I gotta be quick or else someone'll see an' I sure as hell don't want that",

"What if Shera comes out, I don' want her to see me like that, she'll get scared an' think I'm a freak",

"But fuck, I am a freak, I just don' want her to leave me",

"No, I just be quick, the bronco ain't that far away, no one'll see",

"But what if they do?",

"Well they're nuts, they didn't see anything, that's what I'll tell 'em."

Internal debate out of the way, Cid changed his form to the hideous monster that was his other.

He shut his eyes and felt his body change. He felt his pores open wide to allow for the thick fur to rip through, his bones snapping as they changed shape and grew, his teeth growing and ripping through his gums, his ears growing to points on top of his head like a wolf, his body changing into the beast that he truly was.

Shera could hear a strange gargling noise coming out of the hanger as she approached with a tray of tea.

"Cid, are you Ok in there?" she called only to hear the noise stop and a loud crash emit within the large building.

Shocked, she dropped the tray and ran toward the sound.

"Cid, are you Ok in there?"

"WTF?" Cid's newly changed body ceased its strangled sounds as it dropped the heavy engine and swerved to the source of the noise. The engine made a loud crash as it hit the hanger's floor.

His eyes lay upon the sight of Shera running through the doors and immediately stopping when she saw a strange beast wearing Cid's clothes, in front of Cid's new engine, smoking one of Cid's multiple cigarettes.

"Oh dear," she almost whispered. She couldn't move. She couldn't take her eyes of the beast. The creature's blue eyes seemed so familiar to her as if she had seen them before.

"Um... hello?" her voice was soft but the beast heard her none the less.

"Shera," he said "I didn't think you..."

"Who are you? How do you know my name? Where is Cid?" she cut him off.

The beast averted his eyes to the ground in shame, shifted his feet and began transforming back to his human form.

"Shera," he reluctantly continued "I am Cid." He still wouldn't meet her eyes.

"What, No. But how? I don't understand."

His transformation over, he sat down heavily on the abandoned engine and motioned for Shera to sit down with him.

"It's a long story, Shera" he sighed "you sure you want to hear it?"

"Well I don't understand things now so I guess. Yes, Cid, I do want to hear this long story of yours and it better make this situation make sense" She crossed her arms as if to appear angry.

"Love, Fear and Anger in less than five minutes," Cid thought to himself "That's a new record for her."

He scratched his head as he tried to remember the entire story.

"Alright, where the hell do I begin?" he asked

"The beginning is usually a good place to start."


	3. What it was and will be

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Square Enix does.

Cid/Shera maybe more later on.

Summary: He had been afraid to tell her, all of them, what he really was. But now he has to...

Rated M for language

**Golden Wings**

Chapter 2

"Well, my parents worked for an organisation called 'Rafzakael'. It was a massive building out in the middle of the Sal-Kar Dessert; they hired out mercenaries to the highest bidder."

"Sounds like a powerful group, what did your parents do there?" Shera's eyes frowned at the term 'mercenaries'.

"My ma, she did paperwork. She wasn't much of a fighter, she was too kind to bring herself to kill anyone," he took a drag of his almost forgotten cigarette and breathed out.

"But my old man was the complete opposite. Rafzakael wasn't just interested in having humans in their ranks, no; they wanted anyone and anything that could fight and kill for a profit." Cid looked away, ashamed to say what he needed her to hear.

"My dad was a lycan; he was part wolf, part human. Not a werewolf, he couldn't change between the two, but he was the best of both worlds. It's different with me, see I got a bit from both but I s'pose it's kind of like Vin in a way, 'cept with him it's two or so minds weras with me it's just one with two bodies."

"He was always angry, shoutin' and cursin' at ma, but he never hurt her, and there was a time I thought he didn't like her."

" Ma just told me you need a translator to understand what he's really trying to say and that those mean words were just his way of sayin' 'I love you'," he smiled at the memory of his mother trying to explain that to him.

"That reminds me of someone I know," Shera laughed gently.

"Ha ha, very funny. I always wanted to be like my old man so I guess that worked out alright then eh?" he laughed with her.

"Well anyway, while I lived in that building with all the other creatures and people, it was acceptable to be either form and 'cause everyone else was like that, no one thought it was strange. It was only when I moved out to join the Shinra air force that I realised that everyone out there was human and they didn't seem to like beasts at all. So I figure I gotta stay human and not let anyone see the other side of me until I go back to Rafzakael."

"Wait," Shera looked uneasy. "You're going back to Raf... whatever it's called? When? What about us?"

Cid turned sharply to look her straight in the eye, pulling his cigarette away from his mouth.

"Don't you go thinkin' I was upn' and leavin' ya Shera. I ain't like that." He couldn't believe she thought he was going to leave her behind.

"I thought that you might like to go with me," his voice suddenly quiet as if he was afraid of what her reaction might be. When she didn't answer straight away he carried on, his voice a little louder.

"They got all sorts a sciencey stuff you can do, they's tryin' to build giant robots an' shit, that people can drive around like cars, and designin' new and faster planes that they's callin' jets and, and, an..." He thought franticly to try and find more reasons for her to go with him. She silenced his frantic thoughts with a kiss on the lips.

"Of course I'll go with you, I'd follow you to hell and back, I love you Cidney Alistair Highwind," she said still holding the side of his gruff face. "So when do we go? Do I get to meet your parents when we get there?"

"Couple of months and you'll definitely meet my ma, I'm not entirely sure you should meet my old man, he can be a real prick some times."

"Well if he's anything like you, I'm sure I can deal. What about the others, your AVALANCH friends, what are you going to tell them?" she patted his strong arm with her soft hands.

"Shera, I haven't been in contact with any of them for two years, I don't think they would care too much if I didn't leave them a note. Besides, I haven't told them about what I am either and I really don't want to," he really didn't want her to press the issue any further.

"We'll just sell the house and I'll fly us up to Sal-Kar and once we've settled in alright, they'll put us to work doin' whatever the hell we want." He stood up and his hands flew to the air for emphasis. "Sound good to you?"

"Perfect." Smiling the whole time.


	4. In the Sun

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Square Enix and Sega do. (Try and pick out what Sega owns)

Cid/Shera maybe more later on.

Summary: He had been afraid to tell her, all of them, what he really was. But now he has to...

Rated M for language

**Golden Wings**

Chapter 3

Over the next few months, both Cid and Shera were as busy as hell with the preparations for their move to Rafzakael out in the middle of the boiling, Sal-Kar Dessert. The small house with the white picket fence was sold early on, easy enough to find a buyer of a house of a hero.

All ties with the rocket building crew were cut with quite a few complaints but as soon as Cid told them to "get stuffed, it's our lives not yours!" and gave them some new blueprints for an airship to get them started on their own, the complaints were soon withdrawn.

They both told all their close friends in town what was happening.

_At the local pub_

"We gunna mish ya, Sid," slurred the drunken stool warmer next to him.

"I know Harry," Cid stated, absently nodding his head. "You've said that about twenty times now."

He hadn't touched his now warming beer and after three long hours of trying to explain to eight plastered men, with the help of the grizzly bartender, Teddy, exactly why he was leaving without mentioning where he was going or what he was going to be doing there. Only about 2 minutes ago had he finally had some success in getting the drunken faces to understand what he was saying.

Luckily enough none of his amigos had challenged him to stay and not leave them alone in the ditch in the ground they called Rocket Town. For that alone he was thankful. He was expecting outbursts from them and yet none of them had done anything but say "oh... good luck with that" and turn back to their drinks.

So maybe he was wrong about these people, these 'friends' of his that had never gone against him. As he remembered it, they had never done anything but agree with him, but maybe they had just done that not to get yelled at because they knew they couldn't win.

Oh well...

He remembered his friends from when he was at Rafzakael with his parents. They had challenged him. They had argued with him. They had tried and often succeeded to win against him. They had laughed at him and with him, not just because they thought they should to get on his good side like the drunks sitting in front of him did. AND they genuinely enjoyed his company.

They were real friends not just suck ups from his favourite pub.

Funnily enough they still found ways of keeping in touch. Things no one else would notice unless you knew what it was. Letters in the mail with addresses that made no sense and barely noticeable cuts in rocks at the side of his hanger that could almost seem like words but not quite. Secret ways of communication that Cid's father had taught them during their training with Rafzakael.

But all that wouldn't matter for much longer because the next morning Cid would take the Tiny Bronco, load up all they were taking and fly his beautiful wife and himself to the very building he had been born and raised in, in the middle of the Sal-Kar Dessert. Where his parents were and soon his future would be.

Rafzakael HQ.

_At Rafzakael base airstrip_

The Tiny Bronco landed on the dusty runway of the massive airstrip. Rafzakael cared not for its own secrecy, but still, only the biggest, richest companies of Gaia ever knew about the organisation.

Climbing out of the small plane and turning back to help his wife climb out, Cid thought about the huge step they had just made and wondered "maybe telling the AVALANCHE gang would have been a good idea," not saying it aloud as it may have worried Shera.

Once he had their entire luggage in hand he turned to look at the massive, silver coloured building that was to be called home from now on. He saw two blobs of colour walking towards them and broke out into a grin when he recognised them. His parents.

"Shera, you see those people there?" she nodded in response.

"Well they're my parents. The big one is my old man and the little one is my ma."

The blobs had quickly grown into complete figures and for the first time Shera had seen a creature that had the same untamed look that she had seen every time she looked at her husband's face.

The blond, shirtless, lycan stopped advancing and the dark haired lady beside him halted her movements also . The beasts head cocked to the side and his savage looking face suddenly broke out into a smile.

"Cidney!" his gruff, deep voice bellowed out of his hairy snout. He reached over and grabbed his son's luggage, hefted them into a tall pile he held with one arm and pulled him into a rough embrace.

"You stupid son of a bitch. If you hadn't gone and met your wife, I would box you round ya ears for bein' such a stupid fuck for leavin' this place."

"Yes Dad," Cid exclaimed pushing his father's strong hand off of his shoulder and moved to hug his mother.

His father then looked over to Shera and cocked an eyebrow. "Well Cid, gonna introduce us or what?"

"Oh, yeah. Mum, Dad this is my beautiful wife, Shera," he gestured to her with his left hand. "Shera, these are my parents, Hal and Nic."

"I'm pleased to meet you," Shera held out her hand to Cid's parents.

"Likewise," the beast named Hal grunted taking her hand. Cid's mother, Nic then stepped forward and shook her hand too.

"It's a pleasure to meet someone going through the same thing I am," Nic said with a short laugh. "Not that it's a bad thing."

"Enough chit chat. We're out here in the stinken dessert, let's get in that big building over there and put you in a married suite before someone gets hired, eh?" Hal's loud voice boomed as he turned and walked back to the Rafzakael building. Cid hung his head for a moment and made to follow the beast in front of him and the two women followed suit.

"Yo, Cid! You ain't hidin' from any dick head here. True colours are much more preferred here." With those words Cid shifted his body into the larger wolf-like form Shera had first seen a few months ago. His head turned back to glance at her and smiled.

"Welcome to your new home."


End file.
